Concerning Still Other People's Cats 



then nestle closer still to her first-born, with sighs of 

 supreme satisfaction. The zenith of her life had 

 been reached. Her cup of contentment was full. 



" It is a rude world, even for little cats, and evil 

 chances lie in wait for the petted creatures we strive to 

 shield from harm. Remembering the pangs of separa- 

 tion, the possibilities of unkindness or neglect, the 

 troubles that hide in ambush on every unturned page, I 

 am sometimes glad that the same cruel and selfish blow 

 struck both mother and son, and that they lie together, 

 safe from hurt or hazard, sleeping tranquilly and 

 always, under the shadow of the friendly pines." 



Probably no modern cat has been more written 

 about than Miss Mary L. Booth's Muff. There 

 was a " Tippet," but he was early lost. Miss Booth, 

 as the editor of Harper's Bazar, was the centre of 

 a large circle of literary and musical people. Her Sat- 

 urday evenings were to New York what Mrs. Moul- 

 ton's Fridays are to Boston, the nearest approach to 

 the French salon possible in America. At these 

 Saturday evenings Muff always figured promi- 

 nently, being dressed in a real lace collar (brought 

 him from Yucatan by Madame la Plongeon, and elabo- 

 rate and expensive enough for the most fastidious 

 lady), and apparently enjoying the company of noted 

 intellectual people as well as the best of them. And 

 who knows, if he had spoken, what light he might 

 have shed on what seemed to mere mortals as myste- 

 rious, abstruse, and occult problems .' Perhaps, after 



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